Fall Fun

If you recall, when it came to choosing which house to rent, I decided against the one we're in now because it had no trees in the back yard.  Through a small mix up, we ended up where we are anyway, and I was sorely disappointed.  What can I say, I am a tree lover, a shade lover, and most of all, a mother of three boys.

Trees and boys were just made to go together.  It turns out though that there is actually a much overlooked tree in our front yard.  The boys discovered that it was climbable a few weeks ago while my husband was out doing some yard work.

They were so happy, and I was grateful for that one little tender mercy.  Not only is there a tree in our yard, but it's a relatively safe tree to climb --not too high, lots of branches to catch you, etc.

Not to mention that it gave us just enough leaves for a good sized pile to jump in but not so many leaves that we were overwhelmed with raking them all up.

It was a first for the baby, and he swatted at the pile for a while, until we stuck him in the middle of it.  He wasn't so sure about that.

Anyway, this one little tree gave us hours of fun as a whole family that day.  We even made a little friend, which is another one of those things that little boys just love, and what's more, it's our neighbor's so I don't even have to take care of it.  It's a win-win situation for sure.

Don't worry, I was right behind the baby.  This is why we don't play in the front yard very often.

As for the lack of shade in the back yard, we took care of that ourselves earlier this Fall.

And it's portable!

Free basketball stand, plus $8 patio umbrella from the thrift store and voila! Portable shade!

Not that we need it now though.  Brrrrrr!

1st day of the rest of his life...

My 5 year old has entered a new phase in his life --about a month ago, he started kindergarten.
(I know, I'm a little behind, but life is busy. What can I say?)

Isn't he so cute?  The one day he doesn't go to school with bed head.

I'm not sure what to feel (besides feeling older). I'm a little bit sad and a little bit happy, a little bit worried and little bit excited.
I mean, it could mean the beginning the difficult process of growing up, of suddenly having expectations placed upon you --which you may or may not live up to--, being judged and tested and given scores with actual numbers and letters that may or may not reflect how "smart" you are or the particular talents you have, of having less say in the course of your day to day life, and dealing with outside forces and influences and people that may or may not be kind and loving or have your best interest in mind...
However it could also be the beginning of great growth and exploration, of gaining confidence and will power, having structure to your day, making goals and seeing measurable progress, meeting new people who are just like you or who are on your side helping you to be the best you can be, realizing just how big the world is and seeing your potential as part of it, and having an opportunity to affect the lives of those around you in a positive way...

I guess it will probably be a little of both.

I hope that even though I can't control what happens to my kids when they're out of the home, I can prepare them and instill a in them a positive attitude about school, and about life in general, and help them see the possibilities life has to offer ...even on those days when I don't want to get out of bed in the morning either.

The Hills are Alive...

....and they're going to eat me...  Aaa-a-a-aahh.


I went for a hike with the boys the other day while my husband was at work.   Now, I've never been afraid of the woods.  I grew up going camping and hiking on a regular basis, and at times I felt more at home there than anywhere.  However, as I hiked through this forest, with my little ones surrounding me, I was suddenly panic-stricken.  What if something happened?  What if a bear, or a mountain lion, or even wolves for that matter, thought my baby sounded like something to eat?  What if one of those dumb cows by the side of the road, or even worse, a mama moose, decided to take offense at something and charge!?  What if, what if, what if...?  It was making me paranoid.

I wasn't too concerned with minor injuries, nettles, bees, whatever.  I was worried about having to fight off some ferocious animal with a baby strapped to my back.  It probably didn't help that there were "Be Bear Aware" signs all over, and we were packing yummy-smelling peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
As we lost sight of the car, I heard a really strange noise, similar to what I might imagine a cougar to sound like, but lower and kinda garbled.  There were cows on the other side of the clearing, but this didn't sound like any cow.  As I seriously considered making a run for the car, I looked around at the docile creatures, and decided that if the cows weren't concerned that I wouldn't be either.  I said a quick prayer (one of many that day), grabbed a big stick, and kept going.

We actually had a really great time!  It was a lovely hike, and a beautiful day.  We enjoyed our little picnic and when the trail ended, the boys wanted to keep going, so we just hoofed it up through the trees, higher and higher, exploring as we went.

We saw a lot of really cool things on the way,

and experienced a few firsts...

 The baby, even though we went way past his nap time, just chilled in the backpack, soaking it all in.  He loved it.

As we went back down the mountain and down the trail, the boys couldn't resist the urge to let gravity take them faster and faster, running, leaping, flying.  We were almost to the place we left the car, but still, I felt those imaginary cords that bind them to me tighten as they got just a little too far for comfort.  I called, to no avail, as they disappeared out of sight.

The panic, which had left for the most part, suddenly came back as I noticed the cows across the way jump up and start running down the canyon. More and more cows appeared from somewhere to the right.  Fears of what might be scaring them, and a possible stampede ran through my head.  As I rounded the next bend I saw the car, and my two little boys almost to it.  Thank goodness for keyless entry and power sliding doors.  I pushed the button on my key chain so the kids could easily hop into the car, and once they were safely inside I finally felt a sense of relief.

Ah, motherhood.  I know it will always be like this.  I will never stop worrying.

Of course, the cows were just afraid of us, and now, because nothing ever happened, I feel a little silly about all my fears.  However, I'm glad that I didn't give up and give in to them, letting them get in the way of our beautiful day.

Still, I might purchase a can of bear spray before next time, just in case.

More Recent Goings-on

So here's some more random pictures from the end of April and beginning of May.

What a great face.  Painted with strawberries of course.

We had one last opportunity to go to the Zoo before our pass expired, but we forgot our camera and only had my husband's phone.  We have enough zoo pictures to last us decades, so I'm not too worried, however on this trip the highlight wasn't a permanent resident.

They're so fuzzy I'm going to die!

As a second part of my 3 yr olds birthday celebration, we went to a place called The Discovery Center.

Most of the scientific exhibits were over the children's heads, but many were still fun and interactive.

Of course the giant bubbles were a big hit,

And they even tried out the bed of nails.

A mini shopping center was fun, but we ran out of time to really enjoy it.

Seriously, it's a cool place to visit, but only if you get awesome coupons.  Otherwise it's pretty expensive.  Especially for kids that are a little too young to appreciate it.

After that, we visited my Brother and Sister-in-Law to see their new chicks.

They already have a couple good layers, and my four year old had fun gathering the eggs.

He's really not as mad as he looks, just looking intensely at the cool flower.

The baby thought the chickens were slightly amusing.

Their resident squirrel.

I think my son was trying to lure him out with chicken feed.

After the Chickens, we took them to the play place again, where the baby got to hone his climbing skills.  Thank goodness we don't have any stairs anymore!

Another night that week, we had these shish-kabobs, and since I'm always taking pictures of beautiful food, I thought I'd share.

This was our first experience with a real coconut.  My three year old begged me to buy it at the store, so out of curiosity I did.

 In case you were wondering; Coconut Water: Not Sweet.

Still, if you were on a deserted island surrounded by nothing but salty sea water, it would be pure ambrosia I'm sure.  I put it in a smoothie, and it wasn't too bad.  As for the rest of the coconut... well at least the kids got to see what was inside.  We didn't find it very edible.  Oh well, here's to new experiences!